Relieving your stress load, assessing hunger can help overeating

Is the path to the vending machine a familiar route you’ve walked often on hard days?

Do you have a tub of ice cream in the freezer for emergencies?

“We do things to manage stress all the time,” Russ Newman, the former executive director for professional practice for the American Psychological Association (APA), said on WebMD.com.

Nearly half of Americans turn to junk food, cigarettes and the like as a way to cope, according to a study by the APA.

And the stress can be caused by anything from divorce to financial strain to simply working in a noisy room, according to experts. It can leave us exhausted, tearful and nervous and lead to problems like overeating, high blood pressure and depression.

So what’s the solution to avoiding stress eating?

– If possible, control your stress.

“The best solution to fighting stress eating is to stop it at the source,” said the health editor of eHow.com. “If it is not immediately clear, try keeping a food diary where you keep track of your food intake, feelings and events in your life.”

And if you find you are eating to avoid a specific stressful situation, then face that situation, said Elizabeth Scott, About.com’s guide to stress management.

“If you’re using food to muffle your feelings in a difficult relationship, try assertiveness instead. If food is your only treat at a job you hate, try techniques for finding satisfaction at your job, or get a different one,” Scott said. “Cut down on the stress in your life and you won’t need food to help you cope.”

– Divert the urge to eat.

The Scale Back Alabama Web site recommends combating the urge to stress eat with an activity like taking a walk, playing with the family pet or doing some housecleaning or yard work.

“Think of something you can get up and do to take your mind off food,” the site says.

– Curb the caffeine.

Despite how much you think you need it to ease into the day, the caffeine in coffee actually increases stress hormones, Baltimore nutritionist Colleen Pierre said in Prevention magazine. And chocolate doesn’t help either — it’s also a stimulant so it fuels hunger rather than helping.

– Learn from the past.

Remember the last time you ate more junk food than you should’ve? Remember how guilty you felt afterward and how that guilt only made you more stressed out?

This time, take steps to control your portions, Jean Kristeller, president of the board of directors at The Center for Mindful Eating, said to Redbook.

– Decide if eating is that important.

“Often we don’t distinguish between physical hunger and emotionally driven cravings,” Kristeller said.

She suggested rating your hunger on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being not hungry at all and 10 being famished. If it’s a low number, then reconsider eating until you’re a little hungrier.

If it’s at the top of the scale, then eat something healthy first to take the edge off.

“If you’re really, really hungry, you’re more vulnerable to overeating,” Kristeller said.

Beverly Thorn, professor of psychology at the University of Alabama, said if you do decide to eat, then make the decision consciously. Ask yourself what the benefits and/or consequences of eating would be. Afterward, “eight out of 10 times, you’ll skip the Oreos,” she said.

And “Stress Management for Dummies” even suggests putting up a visual reminder.

“Sometimes a little reminding goes a long way,” the book says. “Create a stress-eating reminder that you could put on your fridge or on the cabinet where you keep delicious snacks.”

It could be something as straightforward as an “Are you really hungry?” message or as innocuous as a simple little colored piece of paper, which only you know what it represents and why it’s there.

– Enjoy your food.

“If you’re just stuffing food down, you’re not enjoying its tastes, textures and smells, which is how we derive comfort from food in the first place,” Kristeller said, adding that the more you savor your food, the fewer bites you’ll need to get the comfort you’re after. (TAB)